Kia Motors South Africa has quietly pared back its Cerato and Soul ranges, removing a number of derivatives from its local website.
The Cerato range previously comprised as many as ten derivatives – five in the hatchback body style and five in sedan form – but the local arm of the Korean automaker has slashed that number to three.
The entry-level Cerato hatch 1,6 EX (R302 995) survives, along with the Cerato sedan 2,0 EX, available with either a six-speed manual gearbox (R343 995) or six-speed automatic transmission (R356 995).
Of course, the third-generation Cerato sedan (or Forte, as it is known in some markets) was revealed in the United States at the start of 2018 and seems likely to arrive in South Africa soon. A hatchback version, however, has yet to be revealed.
Meanwhile, the Soul line-up has been reduced from seven variants to three. The base Soul 1,6 Start (R318 995), Soul 1,6 CRDi Start (R339 995) and Soul 2,0 Smart (R403 495) are the remaining derivatives. The 1,6-litre turbodiesel engine is thus no longer offered with Kia’s seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Kia Motors SA has also pruned its Sorento range (from six derivatives to one) and Grand Sedona line-up (from five to four), but both of these models are due facelifts in the near future.
